Letters from George F. Chamberlain (in Callao, San Francisco, Dry Town, Sacramento, Dry Creek, and Mokelumne Hill) to his father Isaac Chamberlain in Roxbury, Mass. describe life in California during the gold rush. Chamberlain describes the voyage around the horn as a crew member and includes a detailed account of entertainments and indoctrination rites for those first crossing the equator. Once in San Francisco he describes the town, its demographics of ethnic groups and bachelors, houses and tents, departure of the ship's crew for the mines, operations and rates aboard Henry Leland's schooner Lone Star, gold availability, high prices and wages, and the fate of certain overland parties. Other subjects include rains and flooding, the Sacramento river, Collins Cushman & Co., Kit Carson's visit to San Francisco, mining, hanging and other frontier "justice," California politics, and the weather. One letter is written on an illustrated lettersheet showing San Francisco in 1851.
